In October, a Reuters/Ipsos poll
found a powerfully strong connection between people who believed provably false information and whether they planned to vote for Trump or Harris. For example, Democrats held a plus-65% advantage among voters who correctly said that big-city violent crime rates are at or near record lows, while Republicans led by 26% with voters insisting this was false. The same was true for 2024’s recent sharp drop in border crossings (true, plus-59% Democrat; false, plus-17% Republican) or the stock market’s current all-time high (true, plus-20% Democrat; false, plus-9% Republican).
This very much jibes with
where voters get their news. An
NBC News survey back in May — when Biden was still the Democrats’ deeply troubled candidate — found nonetheless that he led by landslide proportions among the shrinking number of Americans who still read a newspaper, with a 70%-21% lead. It provides some context to the never-ending online chatter complaining about tepid “both sides” traditional newsrooms underplaying the threats to democracy posed by Trump. I agree
these critiques are important — a bad New York Times headline sets the tone for the entire media ecosystem — but that’s not why Trump won.
The now-president-elect, according to that NBC survey, posted his biggest margin of 53%-27% among voters who don’t follow any news. Trump’s win was a triumph of the ill-informed.
www.inquirer.com
